President Obama hosted George Clooney for dinner, and now Clooney is returning the favor.
The Oscar-winning actor and longtime Democratic activist will host a 150-seat, $40,000-a-plate fundraising dinner for the president's re-election campaign. The event will be held at Clooney's home and be co-hosted by DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg; the exec was slated to host the party, but his $35 million new home was not finished in time, which led to the search for a new location.
Clooney sat just a few seats away from the president at the recent White House State Dinner in honor of British Prime Minister David Cameron and has attended two other major Hollywood fundraisers for Obama in Los Angeles this year. The news of the upcoming fundraiser was first reported by Entertainment Tonight.
Clooney also will attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on April 28 as a guest of Time magazine.
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Obama's campaign has made a concerted effort to woo major Hollywood donors after a dip in support as compared with the industry's enthusiasm for his 2008 run. Harvey Weinstein hosted a fundraiser for Obama in New York in March, while Michelle Obama was feted at a Robert De Niro-hosted dinner. The president has flaunted some of his celebrity connections as well, including giving Aziz Ansari a shout-out in a speech that has since become a staple of late-night conversation.
Clooney, who has been vocal about his continued support for Obama, recently gave the campaign a bit of publicity advice -- he does know something about public relations, after all -- when he told the president to run on his accomplishments.
"The Democrats are just very poor, in general, at explaining what it is, when they accomplished something. I think they’re pretty bad at it, and Republicans are very good at it," Clooney told Meet the Press host David Gregory. "If I was a Republican, and Obama was a Republican, I would be selling all of the, you know, he saved the auto industry and he got Osama bin Laden. He passed a health care bill that no one could pass -- if that was a Republican issue. I would be able to sell his presidency as a very successful one. But Democrats are bad at that, we like to pick each other apart."
